Xin Chao!
I hope this finds you feeling good.
My new photo book is ready! Yesterday, I sold 2 books! It's very exciting to see the fruits of my labor of love start to produce results. It would be great if you would buy one of these very nice photo books that both help me as well as support the incredible, life-saving work of Blue Dragon Children's Foundation here in Vietnam. I think you will find that owning this lovely photo book will make you feel good just by seeing the sweet faces of the Vietnamese people and reading about how I feel being here in Vietnam. That's what it's all about for me.
http://www.markarinsberg.com/photo-books.html
Well, after a few years of not having an actual website, I was inspired by my dear friend Robbie to get the domain markarinsberg.com and build a new one. So, that's precisely what I did all day today! I'm very happy with the ease of using Weebly and it's simple to design with and a very reasonably priced solution that fits my needs.
Speaking of Weebly, I'm available to put together a web site for you if this is a project you've been considering but have not had the time, energy or know how to do so. I'm pretty good with this particular solution and would be happy to discuss working on a web development project together. Take a look at the Weebly website and see if it might be a good solution for you.
https://www.weebly.com
I have taken this opportunity to add links on my site to a few friends:
Greg and Ann Goebelt
Robbie Lindauer
Gene Burnett
and The Zmed Brothers
Also on the website is a link to the Citizen44 with Mark Arinsberg podcast via Substack and Stitcher, a link to Taxi Tales, an account of my experience I wrote about over a one year period while driving a taxi in Ashland, Oregon, some professional copywriting samples and a few other things and stuff.
Here's a funny one. Something that most other foreigners and even some Vietnamese are turned off by and maybe even detest is the Southeast Asian fruit called Durian. For the first two plus years here, I did not want anything to do with this foul smelling food that most Vietnamese seem to love. It smells like spoiled onions and that's being kind. However, in the past few months, I've come around to absolutely love eating this delicious and quite dangerous delicacy.
I say dangerous because the exterior of it is covered in very hard spikes not unlike what you would find on one of those spiked metal balls attached to a chain attached to a stick used for killing people back in the day. As a matter of fact, people who happen to be walking under a Durian tree and are struck by one of these killer fruits in the evening when they are known to fall from their high perch, do in fact often die. I punctured my hand pretty good the other day helping Lien Anh's brother in law try to crack one of these delicious, killer fruits open. My head still hurts! Needless to say, it was worth the spilling of a little blood. The taste is amazing and I no longer notice the smell.
Well, that's about it for now. Lien Anh will go to Saigon for three weeks on the 8th and I may scoot over there for a week at some point. I have a lot of new C44 Shows building up in the pipeline and tons of photos to begin categorizing and getting ready for new photo books. Trains and train related material will be one of them. Also, motorbikes, motorbikes and more motorbikes! I'm so inspired!
Thanks in advance for buying my very first photo book PEACE AND LOVE FROM VIETNAM. I look forward to hearing how much you enjoyed looking at the photos and reading my words.
Much love,
Mark